Saint Joan of Arc

Catholic Community

ISAIAH Prophetic Voter Campaign 2014

“We are here because the people in our communities are suffering; because too many people in our state have lost hope in our democracy, and because this election can and must be different.” ~ ISAIAH president Rev. Paul Slack

ISAIAH is a coalition of more than 100 metro area congregations, including SJA, working for racial and economic justice in our state. This fall, ISAIAH has launched the Prophetic Voter campaign – a statewide movement with the goal of reaching 56,000 voters who are people of faith and who are unlikely to vote in the midterm election. Through one-on-one conversations, we are working to ensure that 15,000 of these neighbors will commit to voting, and we are asking them to join with us in holding our elected leaders accountable to these values.

From Rev. Slack: “This campaign is not about electing the right people. It is about voting for our shared values. It is about voting for each other. It is about voting for people who work hard every day but cannot make ends meet. It is about voting for people who feel real pain because banks and corporations act as if people exist to serve the economy, not the other way around. It is about an election, and every day after that election."

This work makes a difference, in the life of our community, and in the lives of those who reach out. Here is the powerful story of parishioner Mary Slobig’s experience:

I keep thinking about the scripture from Matthew when Jesus says to his disciples "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

When we launched the Prophetic Voter campaign, I knew I had to be out there, knocking on doors and making phone calls. How inspiring to invite people into the power of us working together! Once again, conversation by conversation, phone call by phone call, we can gather people together to change our democracy!

This is good news! And the conversations are powerful.

Yesterday, I had one gentleman say to me, "I will vote now, because I made a promise to you to vote, and I keep my promises." A woman who began the conversation saying, "I don't vote and I don't follow the news," finished by promising to vote, saying, "I see that our democracy won't work if we don't all participate."

Another woman, after saying, "I don't know who to trust, or who to believe," when she heard that Shiloh Temple is hosting a meeting with Governor Dayton on October 9, said she was going to get all her friends and neighbors to go. She said she'd load up a van load of people to go meet with him. We really can change lives! All we gotta do is come together!”

SJA has committed to signing up 1000 Prophetic Voters within our congregation and 500 voters in our SJA neighborhood, and we are on our way! If you would like to join us, follow these easy steps: